Marking tape for tennis courts



June 21,1927. 1,632,799

R. MOORE MARKING TAPE FOR TENNIS COURTS Filed Nov. 2'7. 1926 INVENTOR M A TTOR/VEYS.

Patented June 21, 1927.

UNITED STATES ROBERT MOORE, OF MON'ICLAIR, NEW JERSEY. i

.MAR-KING TAPE FOR TENNIS COURTS.

Application filed November 27, 1926. Serial No. 151,092.

In United States Letters Patent No. 951,484 dated March 8, 1910, is described a marking tape or ribbon for tennis courts and the like which is composed of a thin strip of metal and secured to the ground .by ordinary nails driven through the strip substantially centrally of the width thereof and into the ground. Such a tape has many advantages over the theretoforeknown fabric tape and other markers, but whenit is desired to remove the tapes, for example to resurface the court, the tapes are destroyed in the operation because the nails have become corroded or rusted into the earth. Therefore the nails can be pulled from the ground only with difliculty and. cannot. be removed from the tapes except by pulling the heads or the enlarged encrusted ends through the tape, which of course tears the tape and renders it unfit for use. The nails cannot beused again, the tapes cannot be used unless the nails are removed, and the nails cannot be removed without destroying the tapes, so a set of tapes having once been laid in accordance with said patented invention, which are costly, must be replaced practically every season.

One object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved marking tape of the general character described which can be easily and quickly taken up or removed from a court, for example to permit reconditioning of the court, without injury to the tape or to the court, whereby the tape can beused for several successive seasons.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved method of laying metal marking tapes for tennis courts and the like.

Other objects are to provide a marking tape for tennis courts which may be firmly secured to the dirt surface of the court and will remain flat and immovable in all directions with no possibility of its edges curling or bending up so as to trip the player or cause false bounds of the ball; to provide such a marking tape comprising a thin rib-. bon or strip of ductile non-elastic metal and a plurality of driven, headed, rotatable fastening members driven into the ground along each edge of said ribbon in unconnected relation to said ribbon or strip but with the edges thereof clamped between the heads of said fastening members and the ground so that by rotation of said fastening members or slight bending thereof outward 1y from the edges of the strip, the strip may be lifted free of thefastening; to provide a novel and improved fastening member for such a marking tape and'to obtain other results and advantages as may be brought outvby the following description:

Referring to the accompanying drawing in which corresponding and like partsare designated throughout the several views by the samereference characters, a V.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a tennis court showing the manner of marking it according to the invention and before thetapeshave.

been rolled into the court. Figure 2 is an enlargedwfragmentary plan cured to the court and before rolling;

'70 view of one of thetapes as it appears'ser Figure 3 is a transverse'vertical sectional view taken on the line. 3-3 of Figure 2 showing the tape and the fastening members after they have been rolled into the ground;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the fastening members, and

Figure 5 1s a perspective view of a device for spacing and locating the fasteningmembers in proper relation to a tape to be.

secured in place.

As here-inbefore described, tapes arepreferably formed of narrow and thin strips or ribbons of lead, although any malleability and non-elasticity may be used. The material selected for-the tapes'is cut into the desired lengths as designated at 1,.

and each tape is stretched along theline on which it is to be placed, this stretching serving to takeout the kinks or bends and to cause a flat even contact of the tape with the ground. The tape is then secured fast to the surface of the court. 1

In accordance with the invention the'tape the markin suitable metal having the required ductility,

tape are arranged in staggered or alternate relation, as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. hen the fastening members are driven the heads thereof indent themselves into the upper surface of the tape as indi ground, all

2 oated at l so as-to faces of the heads of the fastening members to be located flush with or belowvthe plane of the upper surface of the strip,

ground, this operation being preferably perowned by a roller,and the resu lt of the 0 erati'on bei-n illustrated in Figure Set b e drawings w ere the upper surface of the strips and the upper surfaces of the heads of the fastening members 2 are disposed substantially in the plane of the; surfaceof the court or-ground. 1 a l Preferably the fasteningmembers are in thenature of nails each having a straight shgm'k 5' pointed at one end as at 6 and formedat't'he other end with integral flat heads 7 which extend laterally at substantially right angles from one side of the shank; This form of fastening member gives; a maximum of contact of the head with the (strip or tape 1' and eliminates. all projections beyond the edges of the tape. When it isldesired to remove the tapes. or strips, it islmerely necessary to. rotate the fastening members in the ground to swing the heads thereof outwardly away from the edges of the strip,-as shown byrdotted lines in Figures Quofthe drawings, it being then possible to simplify the strip from between the shanks of the fastening members at 0pposite edges of the strip. This 0 oration is particularly easy if the'tapes are eft .in :po-

"sition the ground has (become soft as during JhhaJWS or in the spring when the ground recedes so .as-to leave the heads considerably above the surface of the ground; In lieu of this method of removing the tape the fastening member may be bodily pulledfnom ground or bent out wardly away from the strip. This in no Way injures the :tape since "the fastening members do not have any connected relation: with the tape as by puncturing asin the above-mentioned Patent No. $51,484. It is accordingly possible to :use the tape during several successive seasons, it being only necessary to replace the fastening members which of course rust or corrode in the ground after ashort; time.

This construction has other advantages in that curling of the edges of the tape up.- wardlyis absolutely and. positively prevented and the fastening memberswat the. edges of the tape protect said edges against being torn upvvardy asby a player catchingzhis ,toe beneath the-strips. The heads 3 of the fastening members being counter-sunk into the strip and the strip being rolled into the ossibility of false bOU DClH of the balls is e iminated as is also the possibil- V produce a secure contact with the strip and a, so permit the uppersurity of the player being tripped by the strips. In fact, the fastening members in effect reinforce the edges of the strip so that such fastening membersand the method underlying the useflthereof not only make the at the same time make the tape more durable or long lilved in use. p r v Of course the fastening members 2 may he s acedin position relatively to; the edges of t e strip in anysuitable manner, but I preferably use a spacing device such as tapes more easily removable for reuse but illustrated: in Figure Sofwthe drawings and whichicomprises a central. strip 10 of suitable material such asvwood: of a Width sub-. stantially the same asthe ribbons .or tapesl andof any suitable length of several feet ,for convenient handling. Arranged at opposite sides ofuth-is strip arenarrow. fastenlng memberholdingistrips 11 of the same thickness and'lengtih as the st'riplO, said holding strips 11 having notches 12 at the inner edges thereof which with the adjacent. sides; of the strip 10 l tormcopenings to support the fastening .membersfl in substantially verticajl' position. v The notches 12 are spaced ac cording to the desired spacing of the fasten- .ing members, and one fastening member is arranged in each .of said openings, The

stripsll aresepairably attached to the strips x p 1 th sle ng th faste ing me be s :2;

properlys aced with; respect to the tape and totbe fin y riven. or co rse, t facilitat e ov g o th strip 1 the tee ering-mam hers will be gintia yflpla e with t e heads. 7 thereof extending away from the. said stri;p, as shownin Figure 5 of the drawings, the fastening members being rotated to ;positjion with the heads over the strip ior tape 1 before finaLdriwing.

It will be understood that-t the method and construction above described are presented as those now preferred ,by me, but vobviously the method and the construction of the fas tening members and the tapes may be modified .or changed by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, I do not want to be understood as limiting myself except as re quired by the following claim when construed in the light of the prior art.

I'Iaving thus described the i-nyention, what I claim is:

The combination with a tennis court havdriven into the ground and a laterally proing a dirt foundation, of marking tapes jecting head overlying and clamping the consisting of thin strips of ductile, malleacorresponding edge of said strip between 1 ble and non-elasticmetal, and'a plurality of it and the ground, said head being indented 5 fastening members arranged in spaced relainto the strip below the plane of the top surtion along the edges of said strips, and said face thereof. fastening members each having a shank ROBERT MOORE. 

